040159 UK Empirical Methods of Economic History (BA) (2016W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 4 - Wirtschaftswissenschaften

Continuous assessment of course work

Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Registration is open from Mo 12.09.2016 09:00 to Th 22.09.2016 14:00
Deregistration possible until Fr 14.10.2016 14:00

Details

max. 50 participants

Language: English

Lecturers

Marc Goni-Trafach

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

    
    Thursday
    06.10.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    13.10.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    20.10.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    27.10.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    03.11.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    10.11.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    17.11.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    24.11.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    01.12.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    15.12.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    12.01.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    19.01.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß
    
    Thursday
    26.01.
    13:15 - 14:45
    Hörsaal 5  Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1  Erdgeschoß

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In recent years, an exciting new literature has emerged empirically examining whether
historic events are important determinants of economic development today. Can
geography, culture, or institutions explain why are we so much richer than our
ancestors? Can they explain such large differences in income levels across societies
today? While the earliest studies were successful at highlighting correlations in the data
consistent with the notion that history can matter, the literature has moved forward.
Much more effort has been put into collecting and compiling new variables based on
detailed historic data. This allows employing much more satisfying identification strategies that allow estimating the causal effects of, for example, colonization or slave trade on economic development.

This course will review this recent literature as a vehicle to introduce students to the
(reduced-form) empirical methods typically used in economic history: instrumental
variables, falsification tests, regression discontinuities, differences-in-differences
estimation, or propensity score matching techniques. As the course's main objective is
to build skills in reading and writing economic history papers, I have put less emphasis
on giving a thorough overview of the literature and more emphasis on teaching a few
papers in detail.

Assessment and permitted materials

Your grade will be based on a midterm exam (40%), a final exam (40%), and class
participation (20%)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

Topic 1: Seminal contributions in the Literature
Acemoglu D, Johnson S, Robinson JA. 2001. "The colonial origins of comparative
development: an empirical investigation". Am. Econ. Rev. 91:1369-401
Engerman SL, Sokoloff KL. 2002. "Factor endowments, inequality, and paths of
development among New World economies". Work. Pap. 9259, NBER
La Porta R, Lopez-de-Silanes F, Shleifer A, Vishny R. 1998. "Law and finance". J.
Polit. Econ. 106:1113-55

Topic 2: Identifying that history matters
Feyrer JD, Sacerdote B. 2009. "Colonialism and modern income: islands as natural
experiments". Rev. Econ. Stat. 91(May)
Dell, M. 2010. "The persistent effects of Peru's Mining Mita". Econometrica. 78 (6):
1863-1903

Topic 3: Path dependence
Redding SJ, Sturm D, Wolf N. 2007. "History and industrial location: evidence from
German airports". Rev. Econ. Stat. 93(3): 814-831

Topic 4: Domestic institutions
Jha S. 2008. Trade, institutions and religious tolerance: evidence from India.
Mimeogr., Stanford Univ.

Topic 5: Cultural norms and religion
Nunn N, Wantchekon L. 2008. The Long-term Effects of Africas Slave Trades. Q. J. Econ. 123: 139-176,
Nunn N, Wantchekon L. 2011. "The slave trade and the origins of mistrust in
Africa". Am. Econ. Review 101(7): 3221-52,
Becker, S.O. and L. Woesseman. 2009. "Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital
Theory of Protestant Economic History". Q. J. Econ. 124 (2): 531-596

Topic 6: Education and Technology
Cinnirella, F. and Hornung, E. 2016 "Landownership Concentration and the
Expansion of Education", Journal of Development Economics 121: 135152.
Nunn N and Qian N. 2011. "Columbus's contribution to world population and
urbanization: a natural experiment examining the introduction of potatoes". Q. J.
Econ.
Alesina, A., Giuliano P. and Nunn N. 2013 On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough, Q. J. Econ. 128 (2): 469-539

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:28